A Eureka driver trying to use her cell phone while traveling northbound on Fairway Drive near the Eureka Municipal Golf Course hit a street sign, left the road and hit a tree on Tuesday morning, police said.

Janet Sue Gray, 63, was transported to St. Joseph Hospital for minor injuries including abrasions from her seat belt and complaints of head pain, Eureka Police Department Senior Traffic Officer Gary Whitmer said.

Whitmer said Gray told him she was trying to call her husband when she crashed her Honda Accord.

Eureka Police Department Traffic Officer Greg Hill said Gray traveled 194 feet from the time she left the road until she hit the tree.

"There are no real signs of speed or anything," Whitmer said. "She just went off the road, couldn't stop and hit a tree."

Today is also one of the days law enforcement across Humboldt County is concentrating on ticketing drivers who are distracted for "Distracted Driving Month," a month-long campaign during which law enforcement agencies will actively ticket motorists who are texting or operating hand-held cell phones.

Whitmer said the EPD had two officers working overtime Tuesday. One who worked a five-hour shift that morning wrote seven cell phone violation tickets. Statistics from the other officer were not available before the Times-Standard's deadline.

On April 3, the other enhanced traffic enforcement day this month, EPD day-shift officers wrote 28 cell phone tickets and five texting tickets, Whitmer said. In 2013, the EPD has cited nearly 300 people for cell phone violations.

During last year's distracted driving month, the EPD wrote 62 cell phone violation tickets and two texting tickets with a total of 603 cell phone tickets and 24 texting tickets for the year.

California Highway Patrol officers have been enforcing violations as well.

"Officers are out there doing what they can to enforce while responding to other events that happen throughout the day," CHP Sgt. Hal Rosendahl said. "We're out there trying to make it safer. It's always important to try to enforce these laws and try to bring awareness."

Rosendahl couldn't provide statistics for this month or 2012, but said that in 2011, the CHP issued 168,000 citations statewide for drivers in violation of the hands-free law.

The Fortuna Police Department has noticed a difference.

"The number of stats for distracted driving are definitely up as a result of the extra enforcement," Fortuna Police Department Sgt. Charles Ellebrecht said.

Ellebrecht wasn't able to provide specific numbers.

"I think anytime you increase your enforcement effort it makes the public more aware," he said. "Getting the word out there, what's going on. Extra enforcement certainly helps in that area."

Whitmer said Tuesday's crash is an example of what happens when people drive distracted.

"It's frustrating. Really, really frustrating," he said. "This is the point we're trying to get across in law enforcement. That distracted driving causes crashes."